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M-m-m-my Corona! NCOVID-19 #5


Ran

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1 minute ago, Chad Vader said:

Been reading that Iran officials have stated that the disregard for safety measures by its citizens leads them to believe millions could become infected within their country.

That could should probably read will. I wouldn’t be shocked if half the world gets exposed to this, and that’s not even the biggest problem. How are people en masse going to behave when they’re all scared?

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Not Novel, but thought I share a shopping story.

Went to the supermarket to buy a few things.

Things I didn't get.

Toast and Flour.

Asked the cashier on my way out about those two items. Her reponse was. Bread gets sold out quick, and flour is apparently just a super rare commodity atm. As they themselves had delivery problems on Saturday.

I didn't bother to really look for TP (no, not prepping, just time to slowly but surely buy a new pack), which I assume will be more readily available in a few weeks when the crazyness starts to scale down a bit. But the shelves with the bread looked really like empty. Also the supermarket freezers were not as well stacked as usual.

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An update from Sweden. We've had our eighth death (elderly with comorbidity again), and the government has recommended that upper level schools up through university and adult education switch to distance learning (preschool and elementary remain open for now). This is relevant to Linda and I since we were due to have a talk at a highschool in Skåne (second hardest hit region, whereas we're in the third hardest) on Thursday, but will now be recording the presentation and maybe following up with a livestream next week.

The sense in Sweden is that yes, there's general community spread... but I think they're starting to buy into the idea that it's a lot more widespread and less lethal than it first appeared. We only have 12 people in intensive care in the entire country so far, for example, and  presently only 70 new cases in the last 24 hours. Of course, this is not the same as 70 cases in other countries, where testing is wide, however; we are now testing only those ill enough to be hospitalized and health care workers who run risk of  infection while treating cases. But on the other hand, after we shifted strategy (on the 12th) from wide testing to only seriously ill and those in regular contact with them, the trend has been downward. The first couple of days after the shift I'm assuming tests that were already performed prior to the change were still being processed and were added, but from the 15th on there has been a decline in new such cases.

A promising sign that social distancing and less stringent efforts are working? We'll see.

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There was some confusion about what the Canadian government said yesterday, about Canadians diagnosed with Covid-19 not being allowed back into the country. If you have Covid-19 no airline will allow you on a plane. However, if you can drive, bike or walk to the border, you will be allowed back in.

I decided to look up the numbers on what we call 'snowbirds', people who head south for the winter for an extended period of time. A number of insurance companies have announced that soon they will be cancelling coverage for claims related to Covid-19. I expect that the insurance policies do actually have cancellation clauses for epidemics, not just the extreme of pandemics. The border crossings are about to get very busy. I'm sure the border control folks are really thrilled about the idea of facing thousands of people potentially infected with Covid-19 every day.

In the state of Florida alone, about 100,000 people visit for 1 - 3 months, and 350,000 people visit for 3 - 6 months. Many are older, many flew there. The estimated economic impact on Florida is $6.5 B a year. Imagine if only half of them return.

Other popular places for Canadians are Arizona and the Carolinas.

 

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I just had a truly awful thought cross my mind.

The shooting down of Ukrainian International Airlines Flight 752 on January 8th probably slowed down the entry of Covid-19 into Canada, since the majority of passengers were headed to Canada. It's suspected cases started in Iran shortly after they did in China, so by early December.

Some family members flew to Iran after the crash, but not very many. Weird to think that some tiny amount of good came out of that incident. Damn, what a thought.

It was Canada that alerted the world that more was going on in Iran. The federal government used similar guidelines to those used in the US for testing, but with the additional flexibility that people could be tested if the medical folk thought it should be done. Someone in BC noticed Iranians were popping up positive and widened the circle of tests.

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8 minutes ago, Filippa Eilhart said:

The Polish police is asking criminals to refrain from criminal activities at the time of coronavirus. :)

So is Kentucky. And parts of Washington. 

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14 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

I just had a truly awful thought cross my mind.

Half of Americans report they can’t withstand an unexpected $400 bill. Think what will happen when they’re sick, out of work and panicking to get supplies?  

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1 hour ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Not Novel, but thought I share a shopping story.

Went to the supermarket to buy a few things.

Things I didn't get.

Toast and Flour.

Asked the cashier on my way out about those two items. Her reponse was. Bread gets sold out quick, and flour is apparently just a super rare commodity atm. As they themselves had delivery problems on Saturday.

I didn't bother to really look for TP (no, not prepping, just time to slowly but surely buy a new pack), which I assume will be more readily available in a few weeks when the crazyness starts to scale down a bit. But the shelves with the bread looked really like empty. Also the supermarket freezers were not as well stacked as usual.

You buy toast at the supermarket? :P

 

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